Tag Archives: Marketing strategy

What makes a healthy brand? According to YouGov Brand Index, overall brand health takes into account “consumers’ perceptions of a brand’s quality, value, impression, satisfaction, reputation, and willingness to recommend the brand to others.”

Which brands are ranked the healthiest? There are few surprises in this year’s list. Here are the top brands across all categories:

Band-Aid

Amazon

Google

Craftsman

Dawn

YouTube

Clorox

M&M’s

Lowe’s

Quaker

The index also included ranks for various industries. For example, in airlines, Southwest ranked number one. Toyota topped the car category, and Dove topped the hair and skin care category.

Top brands with the best advertising awareness were also included. Leaders in this year’s list include Geico, McDonald’s, Verizon, AT&T, and Walmart. Brands that made the biggest awareness gains since 2016 include Uber, Blue Apron, Trivago, Dollar Shave Club, Lyft, Hulu, and Nintendo. Consumers value innovation and usefulness when evaluating brands. Each company on the list works hard to be the top in its category.

Which brands do you value and recommend to others?

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

Class discussion: What makes for a strong brand?

What are favorite brands in the different industries such as automotive, appliances, cars, hotels, food, etc. (see the industry list on YouGov).

Remember Google Glass? Google Glass had a short life; it was pulled from the market in 2015 amidst complaints about technology, usefulness, price, and privacy. The original product was focused on consumers as wearable technology. The glasses had a smart heads-up display and camera, allowing users to connect to data and share information and images.

However, Alphabet (Google’s parent company) has now relaunched the product as Glass Enterprise Edition (EE). The new Glass EE is being repositioned into the enterprise/industrial market as wearable tech for workers. Alphabet has been testing Glass EE at locations for companies including Boeing, General Electric, Volkswagen, Samsung, Sutter Health, and DHL.

The Glass EE looks similar to the original, but has a better camera, extended battery life, faster Wi-Fi and processor, and has a new red light that turns on when recording. The electronics are now modular in the shape of a pod which can be detached and reattached to any frame, including safety goggles.

How useful are they? GE reported a 46% decrease in time for certain activities, and 85% of the workers believe the system will help reduce mistakes. Glass EE is sold exclusively through Glass Partners. Prices vary depending on the software customization, customer support, and training.

It’s tough to reposition a failed product, but Glass EE seems ready for an entirely new market.

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

Review key aspects of developing a product positioning map, including determining the axis labels for positioning.

While not everyone is a musician, many other people have longed to learn a musical instrument. Some people do learn, but many others stop learning and playing way too soon. According to research from Fender Guitars, 45% of guitar sales are generated by people who have never used one before – but 95% of people who try guitar give it up in the first year. That dramatically lowers overall industry sales, and gives Fender an opportunity.

Fender Guitar has a new plan to help people learn how to play classics such as The Star Spangled Banner and other songs. The key is to get future guitarists engaged quickly. The Fender Play web site has a guided curriculum so that students can pick the style of music they want to learn, and then immediately get instruction on songs from that genre. Fender Play includes:

A guided learning path for your musical style

Hundreds of lessons

High quality, close-up videos

New songs and lessons added regularly

Artists such as Foo Fighters, Elvis, U2, The Lumineers, and more

The service starts with a free 30-day trial period, followed by a fee of $19.99 per month. Fender Play is not limited to its own guitar players. Any guitar student can learn to play on their own instrument (but, of course Fender hopes to create future good will towards its company).

What are you waiting for? Pick up that six-string and go!

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

Poll students: Who plays guitar? Who used to play guitar? Who wants to play guitar? What keeps them from playing guitar?